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Because it was $150 cheaper, I booked a 6 a.m. flight out of Albuquerque a few years ago. Problem was I couldn’t escape a local commitment the eve of the flight, and I instead departed after midnight.
I made great time and had more than two hours to kill before my flight. I stopped at a few stores that were open and noticed two disturbing truths:
• Not counting people who were there because their employment requires it, the people I found milling around at 3:30 a.m. are an indescribable mix of strange and sketchy.
• Better not judge, because right now I belong to that crowd.
Say it with me: Nothing good happens after 3 a.m.
I’m clearly not the most famous person to learn that, as evidenced by Tiger Woods’ recent arrest in Florida. Woods released a public statement soon after his early-morning arrest that he was sorry for what he’d done and that alcohol was in no way involved.
The dash cam footage that’s out might make you chuckle at first, and soon after make you feel guilty for laughing. Early on, police ask Woods to prove his sobriety by reciting, not singing, the alphabet. Woods responded, “You don’t want me to sing the national anthem?” and the police knew everything after that point would be done for posterity.
Woods was right: Alcohol was not involved. He breathed a 0.00. But there is no dispute he was in no condition to drive at 3 a.m.
Responsible sports journalists weighed in: Taking Woods at his word, he was still intoxicated ... so what kind of painkillers is he taking with his recent history of surgeries, and how many things happened that never caught our attention?
My painkiller story is no tale of hitting rock bottom, but it made me empathetic. I was dealing with a horrible flu about 12 years ago, and the doctor asked me about pain and fever. I said I had a little of each. My fever was 104 degrees, and the doctor concluded I must be underreporting pain as well. One prescription for Vicodin coming up.
By the third day, I ditched the pills and promised myself I’d never judge somebody who got addicted to painkillers. I was on the edge of addiction, and I had no pain. What chance does somebody have to avoid addiction when they’ve got a slipped disc and they’d eat, drink or snort anything that could eliminate the pain?
We have enough evidence to know opioid addiction is serious:
• In 2015, drug overdose was the top cause of accidental death with 52,404 overdoses. Nearly 40 percent of those were prescription pain relievers.
• Opioids prescriptions totaled 259 million in 2012, meaning there was more than a bottle for every American adult.
• Four of every five new heroin users started out with prescription painkillers.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports the number of fatal crashes dropped 11 percent between 2003 and 2015. However, during the same span the number of drug-related fatal crashes rose 285 percent.
We’re looking at Tiger Woods as the star falling from grace, but what if we see him as the canary in the coal mine that is opioid addiction?
These stats tell me we need better healthcare. They tell me we need to ask our friends and neighbors if they’re doing all right, and that it’s OK to tell us they’re not. They tell me we should tackle drugs as a public health issue, because by the time we tackle them as a legal issue it may be too late.
Politicians keep promising us they’ll tackle opioid addiction, but something more important always comes up after the election ends.
I’m not sure we can wait for one more election to handle this issue. When it gets to be too late ... well, nothing good happens after that.
Kevin Wilson is managing editor for the Clovis office of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at: [email protected]